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How Etna’s Neolithic hiccup set off a tsunami

By Jeff Hecht

When the east flank of Mount Etna collapsed into the sea around 8500 years ago, it triggered a tsunami that devastated the Neolithic villages of the eastern Mediterranean. If it were to happen today the wall of water would clobber coastal cities from southern Italy to parts of Israel. Watch a simulation here.

The largest active volcano in Europe, Etna towers 3.3 kilometres above eastern Sicily. When the east flank collapsed in the eruption all those years ago the resulting landslide left a depression now called Valle del Bove.